Nurserymen have long ago mastered the art of transplanting shrubs and trees from the nursery to the point of sale. This involves digging around the root system of the tree leaving a ball of earth which is then wrapped tightly to prevent loosening of life-giving earth from around the roots. This transplanting procedure is generally referred to as the "ball and burlap" method. These are two common methods of "balling and burlapping" trees for shipment.
This invention relates to apparatus for receiving tree root balls and methods for using such apparatus, particularly with respect to wire baskets for receiving said root balls. In commercial nursery operations, trees are dug from the ground by means of large mechanical diggers which typically consists of three or four large hydraulically operated spades or shovel type blades which dig into the earth around a tree and lift the tree out of the ground. The blades being a ball of earth with them which contains the roots of the tree. It is desirable to retain as much of this earthen ball as is possible so as to increase the chances of the survival of the tree when it is transplanted.
It is also desirable to protect the ball from cracking, crumbling or otherwise diminishing the integrity of said ball. This is usually accomplished by placing the ball in a wire basket or container that substantially conforms to the shape of the ball and then by twisting or crimping the wire strands so as to tighten the wire basket as much as possible around the ball. The wire strands are typically twisted or crimped by hand and the process is quite labor intensive, particularly when the basket does not conform closely to the shape of the ball.
The wire baskets must be fabricated to match the geometry of the particular brand of spade being used. In fact Belcher's invention (No. 3,979,856) specifically describes a basket which more closely matches a four blade spade. If a three bladed spade is used a matching shape basket is preferrable. Again this is to minimize wire twisting to tighten the basket around the ball.
In other instances in which trees are hand dug it is necessary to hand lace the root ball by means of wrapping the earthen ball with burlap and then tying the ball securely by what is known as a "drum lacing". This process is extremely time intensive and once completed the ball must still be mechanically removed from the excavation and the bottom opening secured by further lacing. There is currently not available a wire type basket for use in the hand dug tree procedure.
It is a problem inherent in present baskets to tighten the basket around the ball to secure it for shipment. There is felt need therefore to provide wire baskets which can be tightened more easily and more quickly. In addition there is need for a basket which will secure balls of various shapes. There is also a need for a wire basket that is easily removable upon planting. Finally there is need for a basket which can be used on hand dug balls (which vary greatly in size and shape) as well as on machine dug balls. There is also a for a wire basket that is easily removable upon planting.